Alright, I guess I should first offer an apology for the whole bait&switch tactic I pulled with Ashen Wings. If you haven't figured out by now, it's not real. It never was. If you were looking forward to it, I must offer my deepest apologies, but I guess nothing I do now will every make it up, maybe short of actually making Ashen Wings, but you're going to have to wait on that if it ever happens. What I've actually released, for those of you who didn't get to download it (and thus missing out on being gloriously trolled), this is something else entirely. The entire idea of releasing it under a different name was AndrewofDoom's, and being a significant contributor to asset development for this mod, I let him have his fun.

???????? - Dimensional Eclipse is what I describe as high-maneuverability mod, where all fighters have glide/sidethrust/reverse AB, and can move around at around 300m/s. Capital warships move at over 100m/s. This provides a flavour of combat completely different from that of traditional FreeSpace 2 campaigns, taking place over larger distances, and being much faster in general. It is set in a universe entirely unrelated to FreeSpace 2's in order to have more freedom for the new mechanics. The universe does, however, draw quite a bit of inspiration from Wings of Dawn, and Anime in general, so if you're allergic to such things, you might not like how the universe is layed out, though I hope its not too intrusive as to detract from the gameplay. I do admit, the campaign is rather verbose at times, perhaps overly so, though I hope that does not take away from the entertainment value of the missions themselves. I've had some testers say that this is a difficult campaign, but I feel most of its difficulty arises from unfamiliarity with the new style of combat, and how the strategies that work well in traditional FreeSpace fall short when given more options. It is for this reason why I've included a training mission.

In all, I'm still rather proud of my work (except for perhaps one of the routes of chapter two, which is rather dumb I must admit), having created a set of rather unique approaches to mission and modpack design, wrapped together in a 21-mission campaign. There has also been considerable effort put into completing tech room entries in order to flesh out the universe. Being, for all intents and purposes, a total conversion except for the first mission, the filesize is naturally rather large, due to hi-poly models and all. It can't be helped.

If you would rather forget the bait and switch that I did, here are the proper mod.ini and mod image for Dimensional Eclipse! Otherwise, feel free to keep that Ashen Wings logo/mod.ini as a souvenir.

***Much apologies if my translation skills are not up to par and my japanese ended up gratuitous***

Patches, etc:1. Patch For Two Missing Textures!(Dropbox)Installation: Extract the vp file in the archive into the directory with everything else, pretend it's just another one of the main VPs, essentially.

3. Stealth Mission Too Hard? Stronghold Too Hard?(Dropbox)Installation: Replace AW_Core.vp with the one in this package.

If you're experiencing a CTD, try one of these builds in this package instead of r8670!(Mediafire) (r8688)Try the SSE2 build, then go down to SSE, and no SSE if the problem persists, report if it still doesn't work or stats working at a certain point.

Run the mod by opening the launcher and selecting 'DE' (or 'Ashen Wings', or whatever you called it in the previous step!) folder under the mod tab.

Start FreeSpace 2 via the launcher and create a NEW PILOT.

Important:This mod WILL NOT run on 3.6.12 nor on 3.6.14! You should try to play this mod on a recent nightly!

Please ensure that 'Ashen Wings: The Shadow Ops campaign in the campaign room before clicking 'Start' in the main menu. The main freespace2 campaign is NOT playable with the mod files.

Note that the Tech Room is initially empty. This is perfectly normal, entires will be added upon completion of the first few missions, this is because I cannot remove entries from the tech room by any way other than clearing them all, then re-adding all the ones I don't want removed. Take this up with the SCP guys if you don't like it.

Old Post

Quote from: Fake Post

Hello again, after the horrendous debacle that was my previous released campaign (I'd prefer not to talk about that one), I've taken some time to rethink my approach to campaign and mission design, and decided to go and do something different.

As I've announced in my announcement of an announcement, Ashen Wings: The Shadow Operations is best described a collection of short (one-mission) stories revolving around the important sorties of the modified Hecate-class destroyer Tyndareus operating for Special Operations Command (SOC), rather than a true classical "campaign". The time frame ranges from just before the Capella incident to many years after. This project is meant to show not the story of an event, but to show the highlights of a ship and a squadrons long career over an extended period of time. Through this method, all the "filler" is cut out and you only get to see glimpses of what is really going on in each event. You won't get to see, or necessarily even hear of the beginning and ending of specific happenings in the universe, but you will get to see a bunch of middles, and through them, piece together a bigger picture. The challenge is to present a coherent product, and to develop the characters and setting through all of this, something that I truly believe is possible, and leads to a unique flavour of campaign unlike any other. Every mission is a "climax" so to speak, and much care has been given to continously present new and interesting mission content. The missions in this campaign aren't even necessarily presented in chronological order, but are stringed together thematically through related events. You will sometimes be thrown into the action without any background, but playing through all the missions should make things clear.

In all, it was an ambitious part of a more ambitious project, done in a style unlike any other, and I am proud to present you a completed product, a fifteen mission package.I'd like to thank the creators of all the custom assets I used in this mod to create the image of a civilization that is developing and changing, and thus the filesize is rather large for the amount of missions, nearing that of a total conversion. For a complete list, please consult the credits section in the techroom after you've completed the campaign, it is impossible to list all the numerous contributors here.Please don't look before you've played at least the first few missions though, since there are some really bad spoilers in there, and it'll probably completely ruin your experience. This work is a fairly delicate thing.

I assure you that this has been extensively tested and that tester reviews have been nothing but positive. I hope you enjoy!Screenshots:(1), (2), (3)

Re: RELEASE: Ashen Wings - The Shadow Ops

My Efforts:SF Knight20:08:19 AndrewofDoom: Though I find it mildly disturbing that a loli is giggling to mass destruction.20:10:01 Spoon: I find it mildly arrousing20:10:07 AndrewofDoom: Woah20:10:15 Spoon: sound like my kind of loli20:10:21 Spoon: and im not even a lolicon

Re: RELEASE: Ashen Wings - The Shadow Ops

...And, I forgot how much Realtek HD Audio Manager hates the new sound code. Not the mission designer's fault, but since I can't play this with 3.6.12 I will either have to wait or figure out how to fix the problem.

Re: RELEASE: Ashen Wings - The Shadow Ops

FYI, Sendspace doesn't allow you to download multiple files at once, which is ok I guess. However, downloads also tend to get corrupt when downloading heavily from elsewhere at the same time. (FSMods in my case -- I was downloading the max allowed, I think that's four or five files from FSMods and all the files from FSMods tested ok in 7-zip, however, two of the files from Sendspace were corrupt and had to be re-downloaded).

Re: RELEASE: Ashen Wings - The Shadow Ops

...And, I forgot how much Realtek HD Audio Manager hates the new sound code. Not the mission designer's fault, but since I can't play this with 3.6.12 I will either have to wait or figure out how to fix the problem.

Realtek I've had bad clicks and stutters with the new sound code in the past, but that first mission is doing something I've never seen before: The sound plays fine in the lobby, plays for a split second in the first mission, then cuts out, and doesn't come back if you quit the mission and go back to the lobby.

Re: RELEASE: Ashen Wings - The Shadow Ops

It doesn't look like I'll be able to play this anytime soon, but I've taken quick look through the assets. So far, they're amazing, my only complaint is that you forgot Longsword's hull textures for some reason. Expect more feedback in the future.

My Efforts:SF Knight20:08:19 AndrewofDoom: Though I find it mildly disturbing that a loli is giggling to mass destruction.20:10:01 Spoon: I find it mildly arrousing20:10:07 AndrewofDoom: Woah20:10:15 Spoon: sound like my kind of loli20:10:21 Spoon: and im not even a lolicon